Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Numbers 22:40

in Numbers 22

Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and he gave portions to Balaam and the princes who were with him.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him.

KJV

And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him.

⋯

This verse in Numbers 22

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And Balak offered oxen, etc. - This was to gain the favor of his gods, and perhaps to propitiate Jehovah, that the end for which he had sent for Balaam might be accomplished.

This site's exposition

So Balaam accompanied Balak

on Numbers 22:39-41

Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep and sent portions to Balaam and the princes, so the arrangement opens with a shared meal. In the morning he takes him up to Bamoth-baal, a shrine of the country's god. He shows him only the camp's outskirts, a partial view tried again at 23:13.

This site's exposition

Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep

Adam Clarke reads the sacrifice as seeking the favour of Balak's gods, and perhaps of the LORD, for the errand ahead. Matthew Henry calls it a thanksgiving to the gods of Moab for the guest's safe arrival. Balaam's first meal in Moab was the feast on that sacrifice.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And Balak offered oxen and sheep,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

And the next morning, that no time might be lost, Balak takes Balaam in his chariot to the high places of his kingdom, not only because their holiness (such as it was), he thought, might give some advantage to his divinations, but their height might give him a convenient prospect of the camp of Israel, which was to be the butt or mark at which he must shoot his envenomed arrows.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּזְבַּ֥חand he sacrificed

    vaiyizbachH2076 →

  • בָּלָ֖קBalak

    balakH1111 →43 times

  • בָּקָ֣רcattle

    bakarH1241 →183 times

  • וָצֹ֑אןand sheep

    vatzonH6629 →274 times

  • וַיְשַׁלַּ֣חand he sent

    vayshalachH7971 →845 times

  • לְבִלְעָ֔םto Balaam

    levilamH1109 →61 times

  • וְלַשָּׂרִ֖יםand to the leaders

    velasarimH8269 →421 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אִתּֽוֹ׃[were] with him

    ʾitoH854 →929 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Proverbs 1:16

    For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 59:7

      Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.

    • Proverbs 6:18

      a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,

    • Proverbs 4:16

      For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

    • Romans 3:5

      But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.

  • Through

    Genesis 31:54

    Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 18:12

      Then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

    • Genesis 37:25

      And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to…

  • Through

    Numbers 23:2

    So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 23:14

      So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

    • Numbers 23:30

      So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

An Angel Appears to Balaam — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
An Angel Appears to Balaam — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 22 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 22 →